A sixth sense for sailing: World championship on horizon for blind sailors

Thursday

Feb 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 26, 2009 at 9:21 AM

By the time the first snow flies, most pleasure boats have been hauled out of the water to spend the cold months land-locked and shrink-wrapped. But on Sundays from November to April, the frigid waters of Marblehead Harbor come alive with what some would dismiss as mirages.

Joe McConnell

By the time the first snow flies, most pleasure boats have been hauled out of the water to spend the cold months land-locked and shrink-wrapped. But on Sundays from November to April, the frigid waters of Marblehead Harbor come alive with what some would dismiss as mirages.

Weather permitting, hardy individuals can be found plying the waves in weekly Sonar regattas. In what is aptly dubbed “frostbite races,” winter sailors contend with the elements that their fair-weather counterparts could only imagine. Among the hardy few are sailors whose obstacles are much greater than cold seas.

Matt Chao is one of them. He has been training this winter in Marblehead Harbor for an international competition that will take him to New Zealand next month. For nearly 30 years, Chao has enjoyed sailing, and at 55, he and his team members feel they are championship material.

Peter Frisch of Swampscott and Richard Kaseler of Marblehead have had a hand in preparing Matt Chao for this challenge. For the last few years, the two have been sailing with him, and Frisch will be a team member in New Zealand. So will Tom Winston of Charlestown and Deb Keating of Woburn.

“As a team, we have been together since 2006, but off and on since 1997,” Chao said

Keating and Chao share more than just their place on the sailboat. They both are accomplished blind sailors. And they both will be competing as part of Team International for the IFDS World Blind Sailing Championships March 12-21.

Chao has been blind since birth and a sailor since 1980. He learned to sail from Arthur O’Neill of Swampscott, who started the Sail Blind program at the Carroll Center in Newton in 1979. Chao met Frisch, who volunteered in the Carroll sailing program, and through him, met up with Kaseler.

Chao’s four-member team will compete in the B-1 Division, in which two team members are totally blind. The two sighted sailors assist in navigating the race course.

Chao sailed with frostbite racers Feb. 15, but while he had planned to begin training in earnest for New Zealand with his own team last Sunday, gale-force winds kept them ashore. If conditions are more favorable this Sunday, they hope to be among frostbite racers in the harbor. If foul weather prevails again, though, the team is prepared to train in New Zealand. They depart on March 8.

O’Neill, who is chairman of Blind Sailing International, also will head to New Zealand as the team manager. Chao’s foursome won’t be alone in New Zealand representing the U.S. The Carroll Center also is sponsoring a team in the B-3 Division (legally blind) with a couple of Cape Ann veteran sailors — Bill Rapp of Rockport, a sighted guide for the crew, and Mark Bos, a blind sailor from Gloucester.

Why race in the winter?

“[Frostbite racing] is not for endurance; it’s all about developing a good strategy,” Chao said. “All the boats have to get to the line, and depending on the wind and tactics, somehow maneuver to the front of the pack ahead of everybody else.”

The winter races only last 15 to 20 minutes, and are scheduled for the middle of the day — 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“The reason why I’m racing in these [frostbite] events is because there’s a championship to go to,” Chao said. “You just have to be careful that you don’t fall in, because the water is cold. You also have to bundle up. It’s so much nicer to be out there in short sleeves during the warm summer months.

“It’s better for the team to practice beforehand to get used to the characteristics of [a Sonar] and coordinate with the other crew members,” said Chao, who runs a shop at the Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk that produces Braille books for youngsters.

Sailing innovator

O’Neill credits Chao with developing a technique for detecting shifts in the wind to aid the blind sailor before he takes his orders from a sighted guide.

“[Chao] uses his face to pick up the wind shifts instead of using his finger or shoulders, and he’s pretty accurate with it,” O’Neill said. “He’d say it’s a five-degree header or 10-degree lift, and then I’d feel it seconds later.”

Chao’s crew won a silver medal in England in 1997 and bronze in Newport, R.I., in 2006. O’Neill is hopeful they will medal in New Zealand.

“[Chao] has never won gold, but I think he and his crew are capable of winning it this year,” O’Neill said. “Right now, Chao is one of the best in the world.”

One of O’Neill’s goals is to get more vision-impaired people involved in the sport. “Except for our two teams at the Carroll Center, and a team in California (Marin County Sailing Center near San Francisco) that had help from us to get going, there are no other programs in this country specifically for blind sailors,” he said. The Carroll Center sailing program has about 25 adults and children.

As of Feb. 23, 19 crews representing 10 countries were ready to vie for the world championship, in the competition’s 17th year.

With or without the weather’s cooperation, Chao’s crew is eager to add a gold to the bronze and silver medals they already have won.

The Marblehead Reporter

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